27 July 2016

All our times have come

This is my 599th post. I can't believe that a. I've rambled on that much and b. you've all listened. Well, read, I suppose. Anyway...

We all went to Steve's grave today. Took some flowers, did a tiny bit of tidying. There weren't any other flowers there this time, as there have been in the past. I wondered if someone would come along, but they didn't. I kind of hope they do though, and see our offerings and know someone else is thinking about him.

We sat on a bench for a bit, and Sherlock had a lot of questions about post-death rituals. He wants to be a ghost. Slightly hampered by the fact he doesn't believe in ghosts...but as a concept, he wants to believe, and he wants to do some haunting.

He got most excited by being turned into a diamond (Mycroft's suggestion), being shot into space (John's suggestion) and being buried at sea (My suggestion). None of us really knew much about anything apart from being buried at sea, though, so that was his quiz topic of the day. He wants to donate himself to science anyway, but he said once they were done he'd like to be turned into a diamond and then shot into space. Everyone's got to have an ambition, I suppose?

Work has been....work. Good results, bad results.

Sherlock has announced this is how he wants to sleep for our camping trip:

Don't forget where you are and jump out of bed...

I said I thought I'd spend all night needing a wee. John pointed out at least you could just stick your chap out and go.... (I'm also confused as to the ingress and egress...but Sherlock has that in hand..."You'd just carry me and put me in it!" I don't know why I asked...)

Anyway, we have cautiously allowed the possibility of hammocks to enter our plans.

Aaaand now I have to go because Sherlock decided to see what percentage of his body weight of carrots he could fit in his mouth and now there are carrots all over the floor and the dogs are eating them ... never a dull moment.

88 comments:

A hammock would be lovely, especially one with netting to keep the bugs out. Maybe I can get netting to go around my house? There have been centipedes in the bathroom the last two times I've gotten up in the middle of the night. Not fun.

I hope someone does see your flowers. I think it would be very nice to know someone else was thinking of those who've gone before, even if I didn't know who they were.

Ah. I did wonder what led to his comment about being buried at sea came from.

I agree with Kestrel--it has to be good for whoever comes along after you to know that Steve is missed.

Hey, Sherlock, I've been eating a great many baby carrots lately--they are somewhat easier to fit into your mouth. ;) (Of course most of what stores sell as "baby carrots" are just regular carrots cut up to look like tiny carrots for easier snacking--but they are cute!)

I dunno, I think it's sort of nice for there to be a place for people to remember those whom they've lost. Somehow leaving flowers at a launch pad doesn't have the same resonance. Although perhaps if it becomes more common, different customs will arise?

It's nice that you got to remember Steve together, sharing these things brings back good memories & stirs up interesting discussions. All of your post-death suggestions sound very interesting, especially becoming a ghost. ;) Who would you want to haunt, Sherlock?

That hammock looks amazing - I always imagine I would fidget my way out of one & end up on the ground, though, so I don't think being over water would be a risk worth taking. ;) Should make for a fun camping trip for you all though. Are you going soon or not til nearer the end of the school hols?

We would definitely get a hammock with a net to secure any small wriggly people falling out....

I think Sherlock mainly wants to get in places he's not allowed, rather than really haunt anyone.

Thanks for all your nice comments, everyone. One year maybe I'll spend all day hanging around the graveyard, see if I can find out who it is. It is nice to remember, and I feel very, very lucky that John is so understanding about me doing so.

It does sound exciting, Sherlock! The helicopter would have to be flying fairly low, wouldn't it? Or you'd punch a hole right through the net, I would think. Where did the idea come from--a television show?

I find it...interesting? Yeah, we'll go with interesting. Interesting, that he is a Safety and Training Adviser with the US Parachute Association.

Sherlock, you remind me of one of my kids. We'll watch something like that and the whole rest of the family is going 'oh, wow, um, no thanks but good for them'. My kid will be saying 'I WANT TO DO THAT'.

Texts received from my husband's phone today include 'pizza for dinner!' 'we bought olives' 'and we got some of that nice prosciutto, love' and a short time later 'can you buy some olives?'...and, in response to my query as to the fate of the earlier olives 'yeah, we ate them. And the prosciutto. Can you get some of that too?'

Lancs. - I am, on the Sherlock age-scale now 'so old' (accompanied by a sad shake of the head and slight look of disbelief.)

Joolz - we came out for a birthday picnic. Just the four of us and the dogs (Maf already wished be happy birthday by allowing me to stroke her this morning). It's an absolutely gorgeous day here.

Except, gathered in the park like some sort of celebratory flash-mob was...everyone. I mean, I'm sort of expecting you lot to jump out from behind a bush at any minute, if I'm honest. Nicky's here with the kids, Sam and Rach came - and brought Mum! Molly's here, Murray is, Sal, Anthea and Mrs Hudson - everyone! And there's cake and Pimms and footy/rugby and frisbee (when we can get it off the dogs) and kids finding Pokemon (okay, kids and Molly....) and supersoakers/waterpistols and a whole lot of fun and chaos.

And the way Sherlock has just asked you why we're still here makes me think it isn't over yet.... not that I need to go anywhere because these warm evenings are just glorious and I've already had the most amazing day.

Since it is not yet midnight here, I do not have to add "belated" to my Happy Birthday, even if you won't see it 'til after--but it's just extending the celebration after all! And I clear don't have to wish you a special day, as you've clearly had a very special one...great work, John!

(A million, Sherlock? You'd better get cracking, you're nearly 200,000 things behind schedule! ;) I do hope you get to do everything you want to do in your life--but it's also good to a few things less so you can do a few things really well. Both ways are good!)

I'm completely sure Sherlock has done well over 200,000 things in his life. And will easily reach a million million things before he's 30, let alone 50.

The surprise, by the way, was a three-layered cake with chocolate, strawberry and vanilla layers, along with fresh strawberries, chocolate cream, cherries, some dragon fruit, chocolate buttons and a rainbow of glitter in a sort of colour-wheel effect, with sparklers ("We couldn't fit 50 candles on it, Anthea said we would burn the house down and have to call the fire brigade!").

And we were met at the door by dogs wearing party hats. Maf also wore one ...briefly.

It really was. Im so grateful to everyone who came. Enjoying my last rest day now with John and Sherlock and the dogs -Mycroft's gone back to spy school after spending the weekend with us. So we are dog sitting again. Nice to get out and walk them though.

Belated birthday wishes! It sounds as if the most thorough celebration imaginable was had.

Did the shorts get an airing? I was actually IN LONDON (yes, and Edinburgh before that and it was brilliant but very touristy and not really that interesting to those not involved) last week, and we only got really rained on one day, so surely you had a chance to display your . . . um . . . perplexing sartorial taste.

Back in the Dark Ages, when I had part time and summer jobs as what was grandly termed an administrative assistant, there were these pink-colored slips of paper we had to fill out completely for phone messages, with spaces for callers name, time of call, phone number of caller, message, whether a call back was requested or required (and no doubt such incidentals as age, date of birth, etc.) (or perhaps not), You could bring in a pile of such slips and hand them out for phone message training... ;D

Weren't you talking about taking a trip this summer to where you all met? (Or I could be misremembering. It's a nicer word than hallucinating, and this heat is frying my brains enough that either is entirely possible.)

As soon as Mycroft is set free from spy school we are indeed going camping.

RR - they get taught how to take messages a long time ago. There's no excuse. Hence the shouting.and some swearing. Needless to say, message taking quality today is sky high. Shoe size, inside leg, hair color, zodiac sign, the works

I think Sherlock watched a lot of fencing. And diving. And gymnastics and a number of other things a small boy confined to a flat probably shouldn't be encouraged to watch. (Not that he is confined. But when he is, the more...elaborate movements are a bit dangerous.)

Oh, yes, diving and gymnastics, so amazing what they can do! (I do always worry they'll hit their heads, especially in the platform diving and some of the gymnastic dismounts.) But yeah, definitely not things to practice in a rather full space.

I confess that while I do like to watch the sculls and the swimming races, I have no interest in track and field. I don't know why not, but there you go.

Fencing is a nice sport to take up, come to think of it, should Sherlock stay interested. (My brother took fencing when he was an undergraduate, and then switched over to medieval style for his SCA activities--Society for Creative Anachronism. He enjoyed it a lot, even though he never put in any effort to get really good.)

RR, one of the British gymnasts cracked her head/neck really badly on a floor exercise. I was afraid she broke her neck. Not only did she keep going later that night (landing two vaults that put Britain into the team finals) but she absolutely nailed her floor routine during the team finals. That takes real guts.

I saw that, Becca--so terrifying. Wasn't her sister on the team, too, watching? *shivers* These young athletes--it's easy, with all the easygoing interviews, to forget how truly extraordinary they are, not just in what they can do but in their fierce drive.

This year there's been people moving house, big-deal interviews and vacation travel disrupting our Olympics obsession. It's kinda disorienting, not being immersed in it. I am always amazed at the obsessive hard work and discipline, super-refined technique, all married to natural ability - it makes even the sports I don't really understand interesting.

(I think Sherlock would do really well in a sport like fencing - one in which strategy and a "head game" is so important as well as the physical technique.)

It seems like every year, I learn something new and interesting from watching the Olympics. Of course the gymnastics and diving and swimming are fun to watch, but I really like seeing the sports that aren't so popular in the US. This year we watched two, and while handball was a bit beyond me I will admit to a nascent interest in rugby.

I took fencing for one semester in college. I was much better at my other phys ed class: relaxation. I suspect the reverse might be true for certain young people.

One of my officemates in grad school was a handball player (at the "for fun" level, not Olympic class!)--6'5", build like a football player (American football, that is), and he would get very annoyed when people would be shocked that he preferred handball. It seems it's a very aggressive game? I don't know much about it, but what I saw was very, very high speed.

It all depends here - different divisions call them different things. When I was in Uniform I always worked early turn, late turn or nights. Now we do 12 hr shifts so it's just days or nights. I know one div calls them mornings, twighlights and nights.

So John reports that Anthea has delivered an envelope to our flat. Addressed to a Mr Mycroft Holmes. It's on the mantelpiece, just sitting there, looking innocent. As if it isn't important... But we know it is!! I can't even see it and I'm excited.